THE 749-year-old Egremont Crab Fair is set to continue despite a “severe” shortfall in funding, says the fair’s chairman.

For the past three years, the event has been supported by a Copeland Community Fund grant of more than £30,000 with the contract running out this year.

The fair has also been been financially assisted by Sellafield Ltd, but a change in the firm’s management means it will no longer provide a direct monetary donation.

However, the firm will still provide “payment in kind” by helping with marketing and production.

The shortfall means that the fair will have to “live within its means” and “work hard for its money rather than relying on hand-outs” says its chairman Steve Foster.

At this year’s show volunteers were collecting donations towards next year’s 750th anniversary fair. Organisers confirmed that a “substantial amount” was raised and the fair was secure for the next two years.

Mr Foster said that organisers have already tightened the budget with this year’s CFM’s promotional roadshow being cancelled. But he insisted that the fair’s events should be free to enter.

“We still want to keep the events at the fair free because we feel that, if start charging people to enter the street party for example, it will damage the fair’s atmosphere,” said Mr Foster.

“The only thing this loss of funding means is that we will have to work a bit harder to raise money, but it will not affect the quality of the fair.

“We’re not saying it’s going to be easy though, events like this are incredibly expensive to put on.

“When you’re booking a live music act, you’re looking at £3-4,000 per act, so we’ve got some work to do.”

Mr Foster said that a number of fundraising events in Egremont will be organised by the fair’s committee members throughout the next year to raise more cash for future events.

The fair’s organisers wanted to thank Sellafield Ltd for its continued support.

The firm produced this year’s event programmes and it will run the fair’s website and social media pages for future events.

“We want to thank the all the people who came to the fair and supported us.

“It was a fantastic fair this year and we need the people of Egremont to get behind us and ensure it keeps going,” said Mr Foster.

See The Whitehaven News this week for a four-page Crab Fair special.